Went to a midnight screening of “Iron Man 2” last night…

I originally thought I hadn’t been to a midnight screening since Bill Clinton was president, but after thinking about it further I came to the conclusion that I don’t think I’ve ever been to a midnight screening. (If any of my friends–who typically remember my life much better than I do–can contradict this, please remind me.)

Sure, I’ve seen plenty of movies on opening night (Friday), but I don’t think I’ve ever committed to a midnight screening save for a few dragged-out showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” I can’t really say I’m a die-hard fan of the Iron Man franchise (I saw the first one maybe a year ago on DVD) but I figured it would be a good time and worth a few laughs. I was right!

Here are seven short tidbits of info about last night’s midnight screening. (Sorry, I tried to come up with ten but ran dry after seven.) Don’t worry about spoilers; I don’t think I know enough about the storyline to ruin anything for you.

1. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jon Favreau were there. No shit. Don’t believe me? Here’s a bit of proof I shot with my phone:

Okay, that sucks. But here’s a video of it:

2. A trailer for the new “Twilight” nightmare was shown before the movie and a guy in front of us yelled out at the top of his lungs, “FUCK YOU!” When the trailer ended, the entire crowd booed violently. The crowd may not exactly have been made up of “my people,” but I still love each and every one of them.

3. DJ AM is in the movie (pre-death). So is Corey Haim, Peter Graves and Bret Michaels, all pre-death as well. Just kidding. Oh, and John Slattery of “Mad Men” is in it, too, but he’s still alive. At least he was at the time of this post.

4. There wasn’t nearly enough footage of Mickey Rourke’s whippy sticks! BOO! I came to see the fucking whippy sticks! That’s all I wanted to see! They could have made a movie called “Mickey Rourke’s Whippy Sticks” and I would’ve bought a ticket.

5. Amazingly, I didn’t see one person wearing an Iron Man mask. I did see a few action figures and a handful of t-shirts, but that’s honestly about it. Further proof that the economy is hitting everyone… even the parents of everyone in the audience.

6. Our Ukrainian Kramer friend (Dmitriy) came with us. Whenever a scene went over well with the audience they would clap… and that clapping was almost always followed by Dmitriy yelling out “Nerds!” and “Straight to DVD!” I’m amazed he didn’t get pelted with pudding cups.

7. “Iron Man 2” played in nine theaters at midnight. NINE! IN ONE BUILDING! Holy fuck, I have to write a goddamn comic book movie. Who holds the rights to Alpha Flight?

Went to see it today… I agree… Not enough “Mickey Rourke Whippy Sticks”. You should rewatch “Wild Orchid”. At least you’ll get to see one of his “Whippy Sticks” again.
As for “Alpha Flight”… I own the rights. The prize in a box of crackerjacks told me so. (Amazing what Marvel use to give away.) 😉

I liked it. Thought it was fun. Delved a little deeper into the Stark psychosis and THEY HAD THE BRIEFCASE!! (Okay… That last bit was ’70’s comic book geek coming out.)

As somebody who considers himself an Alpha Flight fan, leave Alpha Flight alone! And they actually did a story where Puck was tall (and it bugged me.) In case you are curious, I am also a Moon Knight fan.